Marijuana is bad m-kay!

A Winnipeg teen was shot for apparently refusing to buy some marijuana. That is how it is worded on the ticker on CBC National this morning.

The wording gives the impression that the teen that was shot is a martyr for the war on drugs, and certainly anti-drug PR machines go into overdrive when a specific type of crime related to drugs such as the one mentioned occur.

I remember years ago an anti-drug commercial airing on Fox Rochester announcing a young teenaged girl had died of an overdose related to either ecstasy or crystal meth at a rave or house party. It was very solemn and tragic sounding. To bad the commercial had to subsequently be pulled because later medical reports indicated the girls death was not specifically drug related at all!

I'm not justifying the shooting in any way. Let me be clear about that. My point is the anti-drug groups have their 'spin' on things and I am always weary of the message being sent out by any group with an agenda. Which in truth, is just about every organization out there good and/or bad.

Groups for decriminalization and legalization of marijuana, could just as easily 'spin' the aforementioned events and advocate that measures to legalize marijuana can prevent said incidents.

For now though, the anti-drug PR machines have more clout because we elect governments that consistently harp on a 'stay the course' treatment of the war on drugs. Specifically the multibillion war against marijuana which has been raging for decades.

Niche Advertising

Ok, I don't normally watch hunting shows on Saturday mornings, but I brought my car in for a tune up and on the TV in the waiting room is this hunting show on Global that I can't remember the name of, and during the commercial breaks I catch a couple of hunting goods commercials.

More specifically, commercials for hunting weapons. One was for a hunting rifle made by a company called Terra, and the other for a crossbow bolt called Excalibur. In both commercials, a lone male hunter is about in the woods stalking his prey. The prey happens to be deer in both commercials, and as the hunter is taking aim and about to fire, the benefits of each weapon are extolled by a narrator. I liked the fact that in the rifle commercial the hunter takes out a big male buck deer (they don't show the deer being taken down for obvious reasons I think) and then proudly carrying off the horns as a trophy (again, skip past the messy part!) In the other commercial the hunter doesn't seem to succeed in taking down the deer with a crossbow bolt which was a little confusing, though perhaps the idea is the bolt didn't kill the deer outright.

So, what is interesting about these commercials? I don't think they were highly 'creative' per say, though I think if you could make a hunting rifle commercial creative without being absurd or blatantly offensive, more power to you! Aside from any PETA types being horrified, it is quite clear that the aforementioned products would not be advertised, and I have not seen advertised in any other time slot and/or when a non hunting show is airing. There were other non specific commercials mixed with the hunting related commercials, but this shows that certain products are only going to be suitable to be advertised in tandem with a specific TV show.

I also know that the price for a 30 second spot on Saturday morning is pretty cheap compared to prime time slots, and the audience in question for that show is the audience those products would want to be advertised to, no matter how small said audience might be.

In the end, I think I might have to watch a few more fishing and hunting shows just to see what other commercials I might come across.

In the meantime, this is Billy Bobby signing off with "I'm goin' Waterhorse huntin' with my brand new Excalibur Crossbow!" Love that smooth recoil action!

Dissidence

In China a wife is sentenced to house arrest ...

Tensions rise with Norway ...

All over a Nobel Peace Prize in the name of democracy ...

In the West a quiet hush ...

No one dares upset the economic juggxrnaught ...

Ironically the very laptop that this is written on

Is made in China, so hypocrites are we all

New Hockey Season - New Commercials!

So a new hockey season is upon us and to kick it off I saw some new commercials.

The one stand out was the Captain Morgan commercial. Not that it was exceptional, but that the current campaign which has the slogan "Calling all Captains", seems a bit worn out with the premise of this most recent commercial being a bunch of guys at a bar who ditched their girlfriends via leaving 'versions' of themselves back home ranging from a stuffed dummy to a knight is shining armor in bed.

It is interesting to note that slogans and themes come and go as the brand chugs along. You either see a brand being tweaked by a new slogan or campaign or in some cases being a complete tear down and rebuild and reposition for a brand like the recent Old Spice campaign.

Oh, and attention to Leon's, try some creative for commercials that don't happen in the furniture store!

Video Game Review: Bioshock 2

Ok, I actually picked up a game within the first year it has been released! Well, it was on sale and I couldn't resist!

The other purchasing factor decision has to do with the fact that I bought the first Bioshock game not so long ago and was blown away by what an amazing game the first instalment is.

I can say unequivocally that the Bioshock series has some of the best narrative I have come across in a video game and that is saying a lot. I recommend these titles based on that fact alone. The story is fantastical, but topical, and you will get involved with the characters and their stories.

I don't want to put in any spoilers, so the basic premise of the story revolves around a huge city under the ocean called Rapture in the 1950's. Rapture is the creation of Andrew Ryan, a meglomaniac industrialist who wants a society where art, industry, and science belong to the person, and as one of the great opening lines in the first Bioshock goes, "Am I not entitled to the sweat off my brow?", Rapture is supposed to be an ideal utopia, though greed, control, abuse of eugenics, and cruelty usurp the utopia and plunge Rapture into civil chaos and crime.

In the first Bioshock, you are a survivor of a plane crash over the ocean and come upon the entrance to Rapture. Again, no spoilers! Play the first instalment as there is a nice kicker at the end!

Bioshock 2 takes place 10 years after the first Bioshock. In the second Bioshock you play as a Big Daddy, the guardians of the Little Sisters that go around Rapture finding Adam in corpses. Yes, creepy I know! And that alone should intrigue you into getting into the story of both games.

So what you say? What about graphics and sound? Comparatively, Bioshock 1 and 2 are pretty much identical graphically. The first Bioshock has great detail in everything from the weapons to the surrounding environments and that is maintained in the sequel.

Sound wise, you get some cool effects of gunfire, plasmids that defy physics and biology, and a musical score that kicks in at the right times to heighten the mood.

The weapon system is virtually identical in terms of being able to upgrade weapons as the game progresses in both instalments. What has changed is that you can't invent ammo and items, which was a neat feature in the first instalment, though not direly necessary, and the ability to hack cameras and turrets is made easier in the sequel via a tool that allows you to fire a hacking 'dart' and hack from a distance.

There are familiar enemies via the splicers of different varieties of crazy looking, with an addition of a 'Hulk' like splicer and the scary Big Sisters which sound like a cross between the Ring Wraiths in LOTR and the Raptors in Jurassic Park.

Play control is smooth and responsive in both instalments and depending on whether you decide to save or harvest the little sisters in both instalments, you will get a varied ending after completing the game which adds a little more to the replay value.

Is there a Bioshock 3 in the works? Well, based on the ending to Bioshock 2 I would say that another instalment is possible. We can only hope that the developers at 2K put "the sweat off their brows" into another instalment with the fervour for which they put in the first two instalments!

GRAPHICS: 4.5 out of 5

(Only a hair lower because there wasn't anything vastly improved graphically as compared to the first Bioshock)

SOUND: 5 out of 5

CONTROL: 5 out of 5