Celcom football ads

A couple of tv ads by Celcom lingers in my mind although not for the reasons the ad maker would have intended.

The first one is the weeping woman who sobs away as she watches a soccer match on telly. I dunno if she's crying because she lost a huge bet or her boyfriend left her but she's clearly distressed.

The second one, probably of the same series, is about a man who laughs uncontrollably to the match on tv. I'll call him Mr. Hyena. He acts like he escaped from a mental asylum.

I'm no ad guru but if I remember my advertising 101, a good ad has 2 things. First a call to action, second a dramatization of the uniqueness of the product.

These 2 football ads have a call to action alright. They prompt me to switch channels everytime they come on air. I don't fancy having extremely distraught women or someone like Mr. Hyena in my living room. Not even after a couple of beers.

Perhaps the ad maker assumes that the football-watching crowd's senses is so dull that they feel compelled to go waaay over the top to send a simple message. Its called overkill.

On dramatizing the uniqueness of a product, I think this one crashed & burned because the target group, young cellphone users like me, have no idea what its trying to dramatize. The only connection I've made is that if you watch a soccer match sponsored by Celcom, you will become a hyena or you'll cry your eyeballs out. Neither one makes exciting prospect.

The things companies do to their own brands...

Amazing Race Lessons: Are Asians Cheaper?

I've been pondering about the race economics.

Winners of The Amazing Race get US 1 million.

Winners of The Amazing Race Asia get US 100,000.

Both races are are equally punishing.

I assume both series are broadcast to the world audience. Ok lets say I'm wrong and TARA is broadcast only in Asia. The number of people living within AXN Asia's broadcast range (hence viewership hence ad dollars) is at least equivalent to the US audience size wouldn't you say?

And the chief sponsors of the show aren't to be sniffed at either. Sony's still a leading global brand last time I checked although I'm not so sure about the other sponsors like that Lagoon Resort thingy.

So does anybody know why TARA's prize money is pegged at one-tenth the value in the US?

Would the Americans come to the party if the prize money was only US 100,000?

If they don't, then what does that say about Asians?

Come to think of it, if we're asked to pay to get into such a race, would we?

Just thinking out loud.

The Avatar: The Last Airbender

I can't believe it. After an end-of-season hiatus, my favorite cartoon is making a comeback to Nickleodeon. Yay!!

The Avatar has been the reason why I wake up on Saturday mornings. It sits right up there with my favorites like Samurai Jack and Teen Titans.

If the word cartoon conjures up pictures of Tom and Jerry to you, rest assured The Avatar is of a different genre. Very different. The Avatar tells stories of human and social struggle themed on compassion and humanity. The stories actually have meaning. Values even.

The Avatar is the story of a little boy Aang (leftmost below) who is the reincarnartion of the Avatar, an ancient warrior who gained mastery over the elements earth, wind, water and fire and uses it to defeat the evil fire nation. While the overall plot is simple enough, it is the adventures of Aang and his two close friends Saka and Katara as they travel through strange lands pursued by the fire nation army that keep me on the edge.


I for one am relieved that the age of Hanna-Barbera cartoons is coming to and end. I've never fancied its portrayal of fun and adventure as hitting someone on the head with a stick. It has spawned generations of evil toddlers who, just like their heroes, settle their differences with a stick. These toddlers are now leaders of huge corporations and trust me you'll be horrified to know how they run their companies.

If you want your kids to grow up as good people, let them watch the Avatar and Samurai Jack. Its better than the Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner crap a hundred times over.

So anyway I'm clearing out my old recordings in my Astromax to make way for the Avatar. Can't wait, woohoo!!

Hiro Nakamura

This character from the tv series Heroes cracks me and makes the series endearing, for me at least.

For one, its his screen character. Hiro is a nerdy otaku who can bend space and time and teleport himself. His childlike characterization of an innocent guy to the point of stupid is simply hilarious. He gets taken for a ride a lot, especially by his colleague and best friend Ando Masahashi who convinces him to use his powers to do things like cheat at the gambling table.

Although Hiro trusts strangers easily, he is not above doing naughty things like swiping a comic book from an NYC newsstand after paying the proprietor in Yen. And when the situation demands it, he will put up a stubborn argument. But despite getting punched up, thrown from a moving van, bullied and insulted, he's never glum for long. This guy doesn't have a malicious bone in his body.


My biggest respect for Masi Oka, the actor who plays Hiro, goes to his language ability. He speaks flawless American (common), flawless Japanese (common), and his piece de resistance: English with a thick genuine Japanese accent (not common for a native American speaker). His half-past-six Inggurisu beats James Kyson Lee's half-past-six Inggurisu any time. James is the guy who plays his best friend Ando who in real life is a true gaijin - a native New Yorker.

Here's some things you may not know about Masi Oka.

He graduated in 1997 from Brown University with degrees in mathematics and computer science and a minor in theatre arts.

He has a 180-plus IQ. (IQ of an average adult is about 105)

Was as a child featured on the cover of Time Magazine with the title "Those Asian-American Whiz Kids".

Speaks fluent Japanese. (obviously)

Resides in Los Angeles.

Still drives a 2000 Honda Accord.

Produces CGI special effects for George Lucas's ILM and worked on special effects for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), War of the Worlds (2005), the three most recent Star Wars movies, and The Perfect Storm (2000).

Has a blog.

Source: Wiki and IMBD

Amazing Race Asia Memories - Lamest episode ever

The Amazing Races Asia Memories episode last night was lame. Downright lame. Ok, I knew it was a chance for some of their bigger sponsors to hawk their wares so I was prepared for some unashamed in-your-face product positioning. Interestingly they never did this in the American series. Ok fine. But what I didn't expect was how the entire episode was nothing but a tourist video masquerading as the Amazing Race Asia highlights. How blue was the water, how dreamy the view, how vibrant was the city, how fantastic the buildings. Geez if I really wanted to know, I would have switched to Discovery Travel & Living. You guys were in a goddamn race, remember? Doesn't it make more sense to cap it off by having the teams talk about themselves, their lives before the race, what made them apply, how they got shortlisted, what pushed them forward, their high and low points, their strategies, the inter-team tensions, and how they braved it all to the finish line. Instead what do we get? A blinking tourist commentary about the beach, island, city streets and shopping. There was nothing new to learn about the teams themselves. Cheh. What a waste of 1 hour.

And the much-touted big-secret-to-be-revealed-in-Memories was no secret after all. I won't even waste my time mentioning it here.

Again, I noticed one thing. Whenever the camera focuses on the winning team, its virtually Zabrina all of the time. You hardly get any footage on Joe Jer and in the entire Memories show she only spoke like less than 10 sentences, and all of it during an outdoors shoot. She's noticeably missing from any indoors shoot, including the AXN promo video of TARA with Andrew and Syeon. Could it be that the real JJ is camera shy? It was a let down for her fans who wanted to see more of her, and I sure as hell know there are plenty out there.

There was another thing missing in Memories - the fact that they entirely skipped Singapore. Hmmm... I wonder why.

Don't get me wrong, TARA is definitely a memorable event for me but their Memories is one episode I'll quickly forget.