New and Junk

AOL Launched their OpenSource homepage today; the once isolationist Web company has demolished its old-world thinking and replaced it with a, "how can we get people to think AOL is valid again?" philosophy. Way to go Time Warner, we're glad you're coming around (we'll not mention the "eight seven seven, three nine three, four four four fouuuuuurrrr" spots for now).

So we headed to aol dot com slash newhomepage to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out, AOL has a solution to what we call "web incoherence" — or the disconnect between the different Web portals we utilize. AOL's solution was to create a homepage that allows users to access their many e-mail accounts (including gmail and Yahoo!mail), their social networking applications (facebook, twitter et al), their RSS feeds, their news feeds and the other interactive junk we absorb.

But there's one huge flaw, at least we think so, that indicates this may not be the end-all-be-all AOL wants it to be. Not yet, anyway. Click continued to find out why.

More: "The AOL Eight"

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Thanks to the interwebs and YouTubes, we can all stump for, well, anything we want. The video you see above is an example of what you'd call...opining at its smartest. The Cricket Club of New York and LA based AB5TRAX (who have been sharing with us their opinions on the upcoming presidential election for awhile now) are responsible, and kudos we say to them, for participating in such a proactive way. You may recall the myriad bumper stickers we showed you in early September, for example.

Anywho, the video is their latest opinion-gone-viral, and according to TCC's Roald van Wyk (a South African dude who can't even vote, but is awesome for participating anyway), the idea was to remind people that the Iraq war is still going on — and that if Sen. John McCain is elected, it will for another 100 years.

Check out what's more, after the jump.

More: "For Your Consideration: Obama Bumper Stickers"

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We were walking through a brisk Manhattan this weekend when we stumbled upon the above bus shelter ad, which we hadn't seen before (so if it ain't new, we apologize). Anyway, we wonder if HSBC's agency folks read our tirade on bottled water from last week. We like to think so.

In case you're RSSing or something, the ad shows three identical unlabeled bottles of water, each with its own tag line. They read, "healthy" "fashionable" and "wasteful" respectively.

Wasteful? Yes! Healthy/fashionable, no friggin' way. As we reported last week, bottled water isn't necessarily any healthier than tap, and though we should probably seek out professional trend advice from someone, we think it's pretty lame to consider a piece of plastic containing half water, half saliva, half contaminants "fashionable". Here's to BPA free Nalgenes baby. There's one on my desk, right meow.

Rehashing much? Yes! And for good reason — unless you live somewhere that doesn't have access to clean water (or you're muy hungover and not in reach of a drinking fountain) there's little excuse for spending 19 times the cost of tap water while simultaneously producing waste that will end up in that big trash vortex in the ocean we keep hearing about. End rant.

Click continued to see a little sneak peek of this week's "The Week in Advertising".

More: "Bottled Water: Not Only Wasteful, also Contaminated!"

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We're shooting part of the intro for "The Week in Advertising" this a.m., so I'll be preoccupied somewhat. Please for to forgive.

I'm in a particularly good mood this a.m., because as I strolled from the S train to connect with the 6 at Grand Central, I was serenaded by the vocal sensations of the lady in the tunnel. You know who I'm talking about. She's there a few times a week, just sitting on the tile bench, comfortably painting the tunnel with her lavender voice.

What makes her distinct are her song choices. Each tune has a markedly eerie tone; and while overall they're soothing, her voice reminds me that nothing is perfect. Her singing is truth, scant of idealism yet comforting — stopping just before the point of aural naivete.

More: "The Week in Advertising"

A copywriter and some of his friends have put together a fun Web site, where you can see what they think the world could be like if Sarah Palin makes it into the White House, and apparently John McCain is no longer around.

Cue PalinAsPresident dot com. It's a fun poke at the Alaska governor, and might help relieve some stress.

More: "Why Sarah Palin Should Sponsor Coca-Cola"

SuperSpy and I were sitting around one afternoon, having a drinkypoo when out of nowhere she (who always wears a mask in my presence) says, "We should totally make a video."

So we did. Here's the first episode. We'd like to do more of these in the future, at least as long as it continues to be fun. Let me stress that our only goal was to do something we hadn't done before. Mission accomplished. Please forgive us. Please.

WARNING: We talk about this week's episode of MadMen at the end. Viewers beware!

More: "Advertising's Contributions To The Hunt For The White House"