Bah, Big Fish, the bane of my existance? Why? Too many games to choose from, and so little time. Then they come along with these crazy sales, and I end up spending lots of money on them.
But now, I pass the blessings/curses on to you. Big Fish Games is currently offering half off on all of their games, with coupon code LUCKOFTHEIRISH. The sale ends tomorrow, so if you want a game, you'd better get it quickly. There are plenty of games to choose from, so as a slight takeoff on my other job, here's a quick list of some things to consider, if you're in the market for another time-wasting addiction. I haven't much time, so I apologize for keeping these somewhat brief and lacking glitzy screenshots and that. Starting from the top of my current BFG play menu...
Diner Dash - link
Synopsis (in 10 words): Time management with fast restaurant action. Keep the customers happy!
What I Think: This one's really a guilty pleasure for me. I'm a fan of time management games, but don't like some of the hyper-excessive bells, whistles, and other unrelated tasks that some have you do. GameLab (maker of too many other awesome games) really does a nice job with a fun game with a great atmosphere. Also, Flo and the customers rank up there among my favorite character designs in a game.
Will I Buy It? Most likely. It's fun, it's quirky, and it's simple enough to be a great challenge.
Slingo Supreme - link
Synopsis: Bingo plus slots in a classic strategy game. Darn Devil!
What I Think: Again, another guilty pleasure game. I've been a fan of the online version for a while, and it's a fun time-killer when there's nothing else to do. This downloadable version has a lot of interesting bells and whistles in the form of power-ups, but it still feels like it has the potential to get stale quickly and suffer from PMMS, or Pictureka! Museum Mayhem Syndrome, in which a game has one short game aspect which is played a billion times over to obtain a rather uninteresting goal. (Remind me to heavily pan that game on here sometime.) This here has a lot of emphasis on getting high scores, which is something I usually don't find as a fun goal.
Will I Buy It? No, for several reasons. One, the PMMS mentioned above. Two, there's still the free version on slingo.com or something like that. Three, I've come across an interesting bug. I tried this when it first came out, played the hour demo, then uninstalled it. Several months later, I'm playing it again, but with my saved progress still intact. So... yeah, sort of a free game on a bug, there. Keep it under your hat though, right?
Puzzle Quest - link
Synopsis: Match three manas to beat an opponent on your quest.
What I Think: Oh geez, the match-3 genre, such a boring and overused thing. When Bejeweled/Diamond Mine first came out back in the day, it sucked out trillions of hours of productivity from the American workforce. Just think where our economy would be today if the game had never been invented. Since then, so many clones have popped up, with very little variety to offer, Puzzle Quest, however, stands out in a huge way: It's essentially a 2-player game. Now instead of just matching any three items together just to get it done and over with, you have to strategically plan your moves so that you leave an opponent with ineffective moves. A much needed refresher in the genre, I think. I'm not much of a fan of the forced-Celtic atmosphere, but I guess it comes with the territory.
Will I Buy It? Definitely. If nothing else, there's an online-multiplayer mode that looks awesome, and I know of at least one other reviewer that would be up for a throwdown. (This means you, John.)
Boonka - link
Synopsis: Blast off critters to restore the wooded lands. Oohn Shtarna!
What I Think: It's been a long time since I've seen an arcade-ish keep-the-stuff-from-getting-to-the-top puzzle game, so this was a welcome entry. From the moment you start, you're sucked into this cheery and whimsical world of a Buddha-like god trying to restore his trees, his friends, his people. Fast-paced and unique, this one's definitely worth a look.
Will I Buy It? Already did, after my first time playing it. Too bad it was full-price back then.
Mystery Case Files series - link, to one
Synopsis: Find the hidden objects to solve the mysteries at hand.
What I Think: I'll spoil the ending and reveal that I actually got two of these games (Huntsville, Madame Fate) for free during a game giveaway BFG had not too long ago. Do you remember those I Spy books we spent weeks at a time looking through back in elementary school, or those hidden pictures pages in Highlights magazine? This is basically that, but usually with a haunted/murder mystery theme. Find the hidden objects in different settings to unlock riddles and solve cases, the synopsis above pretty much says it. I don't want to sound bitter about these games, because they're actually quite excellent, but hidden-object games really aren't my cup of tea, especially with my poor eyesight (which I strain greatly when playing for a couple hours, thank you very much).
Will I Buy It? Aside from the fact that I got them for free anyway, no, but only because it's just not my genre. MCF games are some of the better in the genre though, and are strongly worth considering.
Hopefully that's enough to get you started off. Just remember, you still have to save money to feed the wife and kids. And the sale ends tomorrow, March 17!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
FailCake
I know it's almost two months after Christmas, but this is still a story worth sharing. Long story short (because words can only do so much to tell this story), as part of my Christmas gift for my girlfriend, I decided to make her a cake. I enjoy* cooking and baking, and having fun with recipes, putting my own creative spin on them. In the end, I decided that I would try to make her a cake in the shape of a snowman. But this wouldn't just be a two-dimenisional outline of a snowman flat on the counter, this would be an upright snowman, with three large "snowballs" for the body and a carrot nose and whatnot.
The plan was actually to make a series of three different flavors of cake and stack them to make somewhat of a tower. Then, I would round off the edges of the cakes to have the shape of a snowman. In theory, this would have been a great plan. Could have. Should have. It should have been a great plan.
In any case, it's time to go to some healthy visual aids. In this first shot, we see four cake pans (two chocolate, two vanilla) before the cookie sheet on which the snowman would be assembled.
In addition to using three flavors of cake (the third, strawberry, was cooling in another room), I also wanted to use three flavors of frosting, one for each layer of cake. I was hoping to use some sort of whipped cream frosting, but wanted to make it from scratch, rather than buying it from a plastic tub. After searching for a bit, I found a nice-looking double-boiler recipe, but I lack a double-boiler. A trip to the library led me to a book with a ton of frostings, and one recipe looked simple enough to be used and modified with the different flavor concentrates. The name of the recipe: Emergency Frosting.
For the first batch of frosting, I used a "tutti frutti" concentrate, which I'm still not quite sure if it qualifies as a legitimate flavor or not. In any case, I whipped up the first batch of frosting... and noted that it was still rather runny. Maybe it'll thicken a bit on the cake, I said to myself.
I finished the first layer of the cake, chocolate with tutti frutti icing, and continued on to the second layer, vanilla with creme de menthe flavored icing. (Honestly, I'm not quite sure where I chose these flavor combinations. They at least made sense in my mind when I picked them out.) After completing putting the vanilla layer on the cake and carving the edges to make it round, I added the frosting, but felt something sticking to my hand on the outside of the bowl. I put the bowl down and went to the sink to wash my hands. Then I heard a very strange sound, sorta like a "fwap" mixed with a bit of "foof. A "fwoopf?"
At this point, it was clear that this snowman wasn't gonna fly. Nonetheless, with the stubborn intent of giving my girlfriend some sort of cake, I picked up the two layers of vanilla cake off the ground, threw away the layer that had touched the ground, and slapped the other layer back on the cake. A few hasty moments later of not really caring anymore, the strawberry layer went on top (with strawberry-kiwi frosting, a semi-logical choice), and...
...voila.
Needless to say, this was not my proudest baking moment. (I'd actually rank this event below the time my sister and I made sugar cookies that were so burnt, they tasted like bacon.) In any other case, I took the cake to my girlfriend's house, thinking that at least some of it was salvageable. Ish.
The weird part was, despite how generally crappy it looked, she loved it. And she could even see how it was originally intended to be a snowman. (Quite unlike her mother. "Oh, I see the snowman!" "No you can't." "No really, that's the nose right there, and there are the eyes..." "That's the torso." "Oh.") She invited me to sample my work, and much to my surprise, it didn't taste too* terrible. The individual cakes and frostings actually mixed well, and what I had been jokingly calling "The FailCake" actually was a moderate success.
Morals of the story: Nobody's perfect. And things don't have to be perfect to be good. Even one's failure's can be enjoyed, so long as you don't put too much of the flavored concentrates into the frosting. And I have one amazing girlfriend. Love you, Beth!
The plan was actually to make a series of three different flavors of cake and stack them to make somewhat of a tower. Then, I would round off the edges of the cakes to have the shape of a snowman. In theory, this would have been a great plan. Could have. Should have. It should have been a great plan.
In any case, it's time to go to some healthy visual aids. In this first shot, we see four cake pans (two chocolate, two vanilla) before the cookie sheet on which the snowman would be assembled.
In addition to using three flavors of cake (the third, strawberry, was cooling in another room), I also wanted to use three flavors of frosting, one for each layer of cake. I was hoping to use some sort of whipped cream frosting, but wanted to make it from scratch, rather than buying it from a plastic tub. After searching for a bit, I found a nice-looking double-boiler recipe, but I lack a double-boiler. A trip to the library led me to a book with a ton of frostings, and one recipe looked simple enough to be used and modified with the different flavor concentrates. The name of the recipe: Emergency Frosting.
For the first batch of frosting, I used a "tutti frutti" concentrate, which I'm still not quite sure if it qualifies as a legitimate flavor or not. In any case, I whipped up the first batch of frosting... and noted that it was still rather runny. Maybe it'll thicken a bit on the cake, I said to myself.
I finished the first layer of the cake, chocolate with tutti frutti icing, and continued on to the second layer, vanilla with creme de menthe flavored icing. (Honestly, I'm not quite sure where I chose these flavor combinations. They at least made sense in my mind when I picked them out.) After completing putting the vanilla layer on the cake and carving the edges to make it round, I added the frosting, but felt something sticking to my hand on the outside of the bowl. I put the bowl down and went to the sink to wash my hands. Then I heard a very strange sound, sorta like a "fwap" mixed with a bit of "foof. A "fwoopf?"
At this point, it was clear that this snowman wasn't gonna fly. Nonetheless, with the stubborn intent of giving my girlfriend some sort of cake, I picked up the two layers of vanilla cake off the ground, threw away the layer that had touched the ground, and slapped the other layer back on the cake. A few hasty moments later of not really caring anymore, the strawberry layer went on top (with strawberry-kiwi frosting, a semi-logical choice), and...
...voila.
Needless to say, this was not my proudest baking moment. (I'd actually rank this event below the time my sister and I made sugar cookies that were so burnt, they tasted like bacon.) In any other case, I took the cake to my girlfriend's house, thinking that at least some of it was salvageable. Ish.
The weird part was, despite how generally crappy it looked, she loved it. And she could even see how it was originally intended to be a snowman. (Quite unlike her mother. "Oh, I see the snowman!" "No you can't." "No really, that's the nose right there, and there are the eyes..." "That's the torso." "Oh.") She invited me to sample my work, and much to my surprise, it didn't taste too* terrible. The individual cakes and frostings actually mixed well, and what I had been jokingly calling "The FailCake" actually was a moderate success.
Morals of the story: Nobody's perfect. And things don't have to be perfect to be good. Even one's failure's can be enjoyed, so long as you don't put too much of the flavored concentrates into the frosting. And I have one amazing girlfriend. Love you, Beth!
Monday, February 2, 2009
I Still Love Riding the Kangaroo
I'm not gonna lie, doing this Facebook status statistics thing is kinda fun. It's not so much that you get a "better feel" for the way your friends think about certain momentarily relevant issues, but more about how much they're willing to show it. I spent much of last night gathering data based on my friends' Facebook statuses (statii?) and put them once again into delicious pie form. Problem is, Excel '07 is a tremendous pain in the butt (as is the entire Office '07 line, but that's another rant for someone else who cares to obsess over that sort of thing), so things will be out of alignment and generally ugly, and without the subtle selection of colors from last time.
I should probably mention, for those who are curious, I consider myself a Steelers fan, although a very passive one. A good chunk of my family lives in the Pittsburgh area, so I practically grew up in Kennywood. On the whole, I'll generally vote for any Pittsburgh team (Steelers, Penguins, Pirates), but I'm not obsessive about them. I don't own any jerseys or go to any games, nor do I clear my schedule to watch the games. But I'll gladly support them, because Pittsburgh's been a big part of my life.
Anywho, on with the show. The data for these first three charts was taken between 10:15 (A couple of minutes after the game ended) and 11:30 last night. It should be noted that in all of these data samples, multiple status updates from the same person were all considered in tallying the data. The first chart shows what was on everyone's minds all day yesterday:
Interesting... a dead-even split, 41-41. Let's move on to the game itself, shall we?
It seems less people are posting about the Super Bowl here, but then again, it makes sense. I could only imagine that most of the people who were watching it didn't have the time or felt the necessity to go onto Facebook to talk about it.
I should probably confess that I actually didn't catch much of the Super Bowl, as I was working last night. Luckily, we closed early (for some reason, no one was coming into the restaurant that night, how strange), but I just came home, checked the score, then continued upstairs to my computer. I did, however, watch the last five minutes or so of the game (two commercial breaks' worth, if that helps approximate the time), then quickly ran to the computer again to start watching for more statuses. Here's what came up next:
Worth noting:
--Number of people who posted within the first minute of the official end of the game: 3
--Number of people who posted within the first 20 minutes: 13
--Number of people who posted a message about the Steelers winning before the game actually ended: 1, and you know who you are. Shame on you for almost jinxing it.
I figured I'd keep in the great tradition of the first 20 posters' data being recorded. After recording this data, I went to bed, woke up, went to the grocery store, came home, and checked Facebook once again, to find this:
I never really thought about it before, but there was probably a bit more on the line for Pittsburgh this time around, given that win or lose, Pennsylvania would be the center of national attention once again, with Phil (that jerk) once again being pulled from his hole to once again tell us we're stuck with crappy weather until mid-June. I didn't see any of the footage from this morning, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few Terrible Towels floating around in the background.
Nonetheless, after the initial victory and they day wore on, less people were talking about the Super Bowl anymore, and life returned to normal. That's just how Facebook statuses go, I guess. If anything, it's somewhat of a reflection on how quickly society moves, going from one state of mind to the next phenomenon around the corner. We live in a busy world, with a lot of things aiming to grab our attention and opinion. That's why statisticians have so much fun!
Edit, 2/3: Definite props to kfunque for sending me a link to a New York Times article which did a similar thing during the game, but with Twitter posts. Check it out!
I should probably mention, for those who are curious, I consider myself a Steelers fan, although a very passive one. A good chunk of my family lives in the Pittsburgh area, so I practically grew up in Kennywood. On the whole, I'll generally vote for any Pittsburgh team (Steelers, Penguins, Pirates), but I'm not obsessive about them. I don't own any jerseys or go to any games, nor do I clear my schedule to watch the games. But I'll gladly support them, because Pittsburgh's been a big part of my life.
Anywho, on with the show. The data for these first three charts was taken between 10:15 (A couple of minutes after the game ended) and 11:30 last night. It should be noted that in all of these data samples, multiple status updates from the same person were all considered in tallying the data. The first chart shows what was on everyone's minds all day yesterday:
Interesting... a dead-even split, 41-41. Let's move on to the game itself, shall we?
It seems less people are posting about the Super Bowl here, but then again, it makes sense. I could only imagine that most of the people who were watching it didn't have the time or felt the necessity to go onto Facebook to talk about it.
I should probably confess that I actually didn't catch much of the Super Bowl, as I was working last night. Luckily, we closed early (for some reason, no one was coming into the restaurant that night, how strange), but I just came home, checked the score, then continued upstairs to my computer. I did, however, watch the last five minutes or so of the game (two commercial breaks' worth, if that helps approximate the time), then quickly ran to the computer again to start watching for more statuses. Here's what came up next:
Worth noting:
--Number of people who posted within the first minute of the official end of the game: 3
--Number of people who posted within the first 20 minutes: 13
--Number of people who posted a message about the Steelers winning before the game actually ended: 1, and you know who you are. Shame on you for almost jinxing it.
I figured I'd keep in the great tradition of the first 20 posters' data being recorded. After recording this data, I went to bed, woke up, went to the grocery store, came home, and checked Facebook once again, to find this:
I never really thought about it before, but there was probably a bit more on the line for Pittsburgh this time around, given that win or lose, Pennsylvania would be the center of national attention once again, with Phil (that jerk) once again being pulled from his hole to once again tell us we're stuck with crappy weather until mid-June. I didn't see any of the footage from this morning, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few Terrible Towels floating around in the background.
Nonetheless, after the initial victory and they day wore on, less people were talking about the Super Bowl anymore, and life returned to normal. That's just how Facebook statuses go, I guess. If anything, it's somewhat of a reflection on how quickly society moves, going from one state of mind to the next phenomenon around the corner. We live in a busy world, with a lot of things aiming to grab our attention and opinion. That's why statisticians have so much fun!
Edit, 2/3: Definite props to kfunque for sending me a link to a New York Times article which did a similar thing during the game, but with Twitter posts. Check it out!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Unrelatedly, I Made Tortellini for Dinner
I’ve not taken any classes on developing ideas for commercials or advertisement schemes, and I don’t regret it, because frankly, the thought scares me a bit. I’ve read about the experiments that movie theatres have tried with subliminal advertising and the like, but I can’t say I know much more about advertising than that. While I’m not sure if there are any specific tenets of the advertising world that marketers shoot for, I’m fairly sure at least one has to be something to the effect of “Make It Stick.” Make your advertisement something the people will remember, something that will make them think of your name.
Right then, Burger King.
I’m not sure how many years ago it was, but someone sent me a link to a website run by Burger King, “Subservient Chicken,” or something like that. (What was the link? Maybe this? Sorry if the link’s broken.) A man in a (slightly discouraging) chicken suit stood before you in a living-room-type setting on a supposedly real-time webcam. You would type a command in the text box, and it would “send” “to the chicken,” and the chicken would perform the said action, or something similar, or otherwise react to what you say. Obviously, it wasn’t a perfect system, since there were only so many commands the chicken could accurately follow. I tried telling it to “Raise your right arm,” and it raised both. I told it to “Sit on the ground,” and it sat on the sofa. One fairly accurate reaction was when I told the chicken to “Take the chicken suit off,” and the chicken moved closer to the camera, and shook its head and wagged its finger at me. Which was freaky, because it wasn’t the friendliest-looking chicken to begin with. I’m not sure what exactly this was advertising, maybe their chicken sandwiches or something, but nonetheless, the promo stuck.
About the same time (probably before, now that I think of it), we saw the first commercials with Burger King’s now iconic “King,” a man in royal garb, but a plastic smiling face. The King would show up at various places, silently offering a sandwich or burger on a tray to an unsuspecting person. For example, a man woke up with the King next to him in bed, holding one of their breakfast sandwiches, with the narration, “Wake up with the King! Try our new” blah blah whatever. Reactions to King seemed to be mixed, so far as I can recall. People either loved him for his comedic charm, or hated him because of his general freakiness. Both are probably accurate descriptions, as I’ve occasionally found myself in both camps. One way or another, people talked about King, and the promo stuck.
I know there was another stunt by Burger King that I wanted to mention between this last month and the King’s debut, but I can’t remember it off the top of my head anymore (not sticking?). Anywho, this past month, NPR’s comedy news panel game, “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” (Dec. 21, 2008 episode) featured a story on a “last-minute gift idea for a guy with a big appetite,” “a cologne for carnivores,” “a top aroma of flame-broiled meat with notes of gristle, bun, and mayo.” Yes, “Flame,” Burger King’s new cologne. Odd enough as is, but it gets worse: “The website offering it is ‘firemeetsdesire.com’ [no hyperlink, since I haven’t checked it out myself]… it features Burger King’s spokes-monarch lying naked on a bear-skin rug in front of a fire, and beckoning you forward towards him… This may be a subtle campaign to sell more lunches, by forcing you to lose the one you already had.” I haven’t been to the website to check it out (nor does it sound at all appealing), so I’ll take their word for it. Nonetheless, as painful as it sounds, the promo stuck. (Notice a theme yet?)
It was just yesterday that my mom and I saw a commercial for “The Angry Whopper,” a burger with spicy onion petals and a few different peppers. The concept of spicy burgers isn’t exactly new, but the commercial had my tilting my head and wondering what could have possibly compelled them to make such a convoluted commercial. In it, a very angry farmer is shown planting seeds with disgust, beating them into the ground, watering them while yelling at them, throwing ground pepper on them while shouting, “Hot enough for ya?” In the end, these angry onions are apparently used in this new burger, where they are “looking to get their revenge.” (Shirt-and-tie man bites burger, starts running around like chicken-sans-head looking for water, etc.) Aside from the fact that I’m really not a fast food burger person (I go more for chicken), this was a commercial that genuinely turned me off. I in fact have absolutely no desire to eat this burger, and I think the commercial might have been the kiss of death. I love spicy foods (within reason), but this was just outright ridiculous. I could probably go on fuming about this for a while, but I think I’ve made my point, and it’s clear that this promo really stuck again.
Tonight then. I log on to the internet to find that two unrelated people have posted links on two different venues (a forum of a few local friends, and Facebook) to Burger King’s newest advertising scheme, the “Whopper Sacrifice.” If I understand this right, If you add a certain application on Facebook, you will get a coupon for a free Whopper if you unfriend ten people.
Okay then, where do I start with this? Let’s start with the Facebook side of this. I’m not a tremendous Facebook user to begin with. In fact, I didn’t get an account until after my freshman year of college, when I figured it’d help to keep in touch with people over the summer. Since then, I’ve been using Facebook as a utility, not a means of living. If I need to get a hold of someone and I can’t do so using a phone call or AIM, a PM on Facebook is my next way to go (not even a Wall post, I go straight to PM’s, because frankly, not every request or response for a person’s mailing address or whatnot needs to be public info). I’m incredibly passive when it comes to searching for people I know as friends, and I’ve often not accepted friend requests solely because I just don’t know the person well enough. I mean, I know my memory’s crap, but if I’ve never even heard of your name, much less if I still can’t recognize you even after a short description and a look through your profile, no offense, but I don’t see the need to add you. For me, Facebook is not a race to get as many friends as possible, it’s a utility.
This is why it often scares me when people freak out over small Facebook things, like an unfriending or someone getting “engaged” to a good friend, even jokingly. “It’s not official until it’s Facebook official” has become more than just an often-occuring quote, it’s a mantra for some. I understand that some people use Facebook as a form of entertainment, but to base one’s life around every byte of information that flows through that website just seems absurd to me.
Now then, the Whopper Sacrifice. First off, the sheer cruelty of asking someone to defriend someone for the sake of 1/10th of a coupon is a little disturbing to me. Not just because of the (anti-)social plotting one does deciding who they “hate the most” a/o “don’t need,” but for the fact that it’s for a burger. Seriously, kids, shell out the three bucks for the thing. Secondly (and I’m saying this part-sarcastically), It must be psychologically devestating to someone knowing they’ve been defriended for the sake of such a cheap burger. To say “Our relationship is worth less than thirty cents toward a meal” is a kick in the pants to anyone. On the whole, if this thing becomes viral (and I suppose it already has), I expect to see a lot of angry vendettas against “former friends,” and maybe even some lawsuits thrown in Burger King’s direction.
Good.
My honest thoughts on Burger King, in terms of food: Not too bad. I usually get the Chicken Sandwich with cheese, which tastes good, although the price seems a bit steep. The fries are good, they tend to be crispier than most other fast food joints. I can’t say much positive for their breakfasts, since most of what I’ve tried has left me feeling iffy afterwards (namely, the Cheesy BK Wrapper and the Ham Omelet Sandwich), and they only offer one size of orange juice, which is inconvenient. Burger King’s got its hits and misses as far as food goes, so I’d give it a middle-of-the-road rating.
Burger King’s advertising? Clearly over the last few years, they’ve really gone for the outlandish approach, with freaky mascots and questionable advertising gimmicks (I forgot to mention the “Whopper Virgins” campaign, which I really don’t know much about). Their aim has not been to necessarily market their products in an entirely appealing way, but at the very least, in a very memorable way, a sticky way. How sticky? Look at what you’ve just read. I’ve outlined several of their promos from memory (although I had to replay the “Wait Wait” bit a few times so I could copy the exact quotes), and I’ve engaged in and encouraged discussion on the topic. Burger King’s stuck to me, although not in a positive way, but it’s stuck in my mind strongly enough that I’ve written an entire blog post about them, essentially promoting both their products and their advertising campaign, which means it’s extremely effective, and they’ll likely produce more campaigns like this because of reactions like this, and now I feel like such a corporate whore.
(sigh)
But yeah, I tried using a roasted red pepper alfredo sauce with the tortellini. Kinda runny, but good flavor to it.
Right then, Burger King.
I’m not sure how many years ago it was, but someone sent me a link to a website run by Burger King, “Subservient Chicken,” or something like that. (What was the link? Maybe this? Sorry if the link’s broken.) A man in a (slightly discouraging) chicken suit stood before you in a living-room-type setting on a supposedly real-time webcam. You would type a command in the text box, and it would “send” “to the chicken,” and the chicken would perform the said action, or something similar, or otherwise react to what you say. Obviously, it wasn’t a perfect system, since there were only so many commands the chicken could accurately follow. I tried telling it to “Raise your right arm,” and it raised both. I told it to “Sit on the ground,” and it sat on the sofa. One fairly accurate reaction was when I told the chicken to “Take the chicken suit off,” and the chicken moved closer to the camera, and shook its head and wagged its finger at me. Which was freaky, because it wasn’t the friendliest-looking chicken to begin with. I’m not sure what exactly this was advertising, maybe their chicken sandwiches or something, but nonetheless, the promo stuck.
About the same time (probably before, now that I think of it), we saw the first commercials with Burger King’s now iconic “King,” a man in royal garb, but a plastic smiling face. The King would show up at various places, silently offering a sandwich or burger on a tray to an unsuspecting person. For example, a man woke up with the King next to him in bed, holding one of their breakfast sandwiches, with the narration, “Wake up with the King! Try our new” blah blah whatever. Reactions to King seemed to be mixed, so far as I can recall. People either loved him for his comedic charm, or hated him because of his general freakiness. Both are probably accurate descriptions, as I’ve occasionally found myself in both camps. One way or another, people talked about King, and the promo stuck.
I know there was another stunt by Burger King that I wanted to mention between this last month and the King’s debut, but I can’t remember it off the top of my head anymore (not sticking?). Anywho, this past month, NPR’s comedy news panel game, “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” (Dec. 21, 2008 episode) featured a story on a “last-minute gift idea for a guy with a big appetite,” “a cologne for carnivores,” “a top aroma of flame-broiled meat with notes of gristle, bun, and mayo.” Yes, “Flame,” Burger King’s new cologne. Odd enough as is, but it gets worse: “The website offering it is ‘firemeetsdesire.com’ [no hyperlink, since I haven’t checked it out myself]… it features Burger King’s spokes-monarch lying naked on a bear-skin rug in front of a fire, and beckoning you forward towards him… This may be a subtle campaign to sell more lunches, by forcing you to lose the one you already had.” I haven’t been to the website to check it out (nor does it sound at all appealing), so I’ll take their word for it. Nonetheless, as painful as it sounds, the promo stuck. (Notice a theme yet?)
It was just yesterday that my mom and I saw a commercial for “The Angry Whopper,” a burger with spicy onion petals and a few different peppers. The concept of spicy burgers isn’t exactly new, but the commercial had my tilting my head and wondering what could have possibly compelled them to make such a convoluted commercial. In it, a very angry farmer is shown planting seeds with disgust, beating them into the ground, watering them while yelling at them, throwing ground pepper on them while shouting, “Hot enough for ya?” In the end, these angry onions are apparently used in this new burger, where they are “looking to get their revenge.” (Shirt-and-tie man bites burger, starts running around like chicken-sans-head looking for water, etc.) Aside from the fact that I’m really not a fast food burger person (I go more for chicken), this was a commercial that genuinely turned me off. I in fact have absolutely no desire to eat this burger, and I think the commercial might have been the kiss of death. I love spicy foods (within reason), but this was just outright ridiculous. I could probably go on fuming about this for a while, but I think I’ve made my point, and it’s clear that this promo really stuck again.
Tonight then. I log on to the internet to find that two unrelated people have posted links on two different venues (a forum of a few local friends, and Facebook) to Burger King’s newest advertising scheme, the “Whopper Sacrifice.” If I understand this right, If you add a certain application on Facebook, you will get a coupon for a free Whopper if you unfriend ten people.
Okay then, where do I start with this? Let’s start with the Facebook side of this. I’m not a tremendous Facebook user to begin with. In fact, I didn’t get an account until after my freshman year of college, when I figured it’d help to keep in touch with people over the summer. Since then, I’ve been using Facebook as a utility, not a means of living. If I need to get a hold of someone and I can’t do so using a phone call or AIM, a PM on Facebook is my next way to go (not even a Wall post, I go straight to PM’s, because frankly, not every request or response for a person’s mailing address or whatnot needs to be public info). I’m incredibly passive when it comes to searching for people I know as friends, and I’ve often not accepted friend requests solely because I just don’t know the person well enough. I mean, I know my memory’s crap, but if I’ve never even heard of your name, much less if I still can’t recognize you even after a short description and a look through your profile, no offense, but I don’t see the need to add you. For me, Facebook is not a race to get as many friends as possible, it’s a utility.
This is why it often scares me when people freak out over small Facebook things, like an unfriending or someone getting “engaged” to a good friend, even jokingly. “It’s not official until it’s Facebook official” has become more than just an often-occuring quote, it’s a mantra for some. I understand that some people use Facebook as a form of entertainment, but to base one’s life around every byte of information that flows through that website just seems absurd to me.
Now then, the Whopper Sacrifice. First off, the sheer cruelty of asking someone to defriend someone for the sake of 1/10th of a coupon is a little disturbing to me. Not just because of the (anti-)social plotting one does deciding who they “hate the most” a/o “don’t need,” but for the fact that it’s for a burger. Seriously, kids, shell out the three bucks for the thing. Secondly (and I’m saying this part-sarcastically), It must be psychologically devestating to someone knowing they’ve been defriended for the sake of such a cheap burger. To say “Our relationship is worth less than thirty cents toward a meal” is a kick in the pants to anyone. On the whole, if this thing becomes viral (and I suppose it already has), I expect to see a lot of angry vendettas against “former friends,” and maybe even some lawsuits thrown in Burger King’s direction.
Good.
My honest thoughts on Burger King, in terms of food: Not too bad. I usually get the Chicken Sandwich with cheese, which tastes good, although the price seems a bit steep. The fries are good, they tend to be crispier than most other fast food joints. I can’t say much positive for their breakfasts, since most of what I’ve tried has left me feeling iffy afterwards (namely, the Cheesy BK Wrapper and the Ham Omelet Sandwich), and they only offer one size of orange juice, which is inconvenient. Burger King’s got its hits and misses as far as food goes, so I’d give it a middle-of-the-road rating.
Burger King’s advertising? Clearly over the last few years, they’ve really gone for the outlandish approach, with freaky mascots and questionable advertising gimmicks (I forgot to mention the “Whopper Virgins” campaign, which I really don’t know much about). Their aim has not been to necessarily market their products in an entirely appealing way, but at the very least, in a very memorable way, a sticky way. How sticky? Look at what you’ve just read. I’ve outlined several of their promos from memory (although I had to replay the “Wait Wait” bit a few times so I could copy the exact quotes), and I’ve engaged in and encouraged discussion on the topic. Burger King’s stuck to me, although not in a positive way, but it’s stuck in my mind strongly enough that I’ve written an entire blog post about them, essentially promoting both their products and their advertising campaign, which means it’s extremely effective, and they’ll likely produce more campaigns like this because of reactions like this, and now I feel like such a corporate whore.
(sigh)
But yeah, I tried using a roasted red pepper alfredo sauce with the tortellini. Kinda runny, but good flavor to it.
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