Commercials. I still haven't gotten used to those funny things. And now they're putting them before some YouTube videos! Not to mention they interrupt my Hulu time and are before movies you go see at the theater. You just can't escape their omnipresence.
Overseas our commercials were not like anything here stateside. We had "Guess the Capitol" for different states and countries, who you could go to if you felt depressed, what you had to do if you were going to marry a local national, and that sexual harassment is how the receiver perceives it. Now I understand that these probably seem strange to those of you who have never seen them, and I'll be the first to admit that they kind of are. When we were living on the island, we had a commercial that reminded you to pick up after your dog when you went on a walk! Definitely not something that would be on TV in the US.
Here are some AFN commercials so that you can get a better feel for what I'm talking about:
Eat Breakfast
I get all my legal advice from Greek gods
Marrying a Local National?
Family Housing
But come on, commercials here? Ridiculous! Now I think that some of them are pretty funny, but they're the minority. I could definitely live without seeing another infomercial, sympathy commercial - you know the ones, with the humane society, African children, Operation Smile and some heartfelt music - or commercial saying how Product A is better than their competitor.
Like this one:
No. Just no. I see what you're trying to do, but it doesn't make me want to buy your insurance.
However, these commercials make me giggle every time they come on.
Aziz is from Columbia, which does make this commercial better. It's also how I sometimes feel when I kayak with my dad.
Did you know that you can taxidermy your pet? And that there is a reality TV show about a shop that does it? I didn't either until today! It was oddly mesmerizing; I watched two episodes back to back. One of the story lines they followed was of Titi, a tiny little dog. Her owners let her outside to play and a hawk got her when it thought she was a squirrel. The parents wanted Titi stuffed because their little four year old didn't understand death yet. Other owners just can't bear to part with the animal that has meant so much to them for so long, whether it be a dog, cat, alligator, bird, or iguana.
While I'd never heard of pet taxidermy, I have heard of it as part of interior decoration. Or that's what someone told me when I asked them why they had a goose and a deer head mounted in their living room. And I guess growing up I had first hand experience with this concept - we had Pierre in our home. He was a standing Canadian goose that I think my dad shot when he was living in Texas. I guess he was proud of it? Wanted to keep it to show to us kids later on? I just remember that our dog didn't like it much and would occasionally try to move it when he thought we weren't looking. I can't even imagine what he would have done if instead of a stuffed goose we'd had a previous pet!
