Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

Pythons on YouTube

Snakes on a Plane...Ticks on a Plane. How 'bout (Monty) Pythons on YouTube?

Our friend Maura Gast (with whom we just shared the stage at Albuquerque's Town Hall Meeting to discuss the future of the Q's downtown) suggested that this just might be the most inspired utilization of YouTube ever.

You gotta be a fan of Monty Python to get the joke...but The British Emporium (a shop in Grapevine TX) has recently posted an homage to the Python using residents and local landmarks to recreate the iconic British television show. It's all to promote this weekend's Monty Python Madness Charity Festival ("a celebration of all things Python").

Well done, lads (and lasses)...well done.

Ticks on a Plane

Not sure it has quite the Box Office appeal of "Snakes"...but if Samuel L. Jackson will star, the film version of the true story of a United flight that was taken out of service so that three ticks could be escorted off the plane should, err, at least go straight to video.

Well, since the airlines treat us like chimps, I guess we might as well pick bugs out of each others' hair while in flight...

Thanks to our bud John Groh for the catch...

Gas Prices Impacting Prostitution

From our friend Cole Carley (Fargo-Moorhead CVB)...gas prices are cutting into even the most basic of male urges. That's right, Nevada's Shady Ladies Ranch is experiencing slower than normal business since gas prices went intergalactic...and is now offering gas cards to increase business.

As Cole said, "they’re not going to take economic problems lying down."

Or, with gas cards....maybe they are.

SNL V1.0

As a tribute to George Carlin, NBC aired the very first Saturday Night Live last night, in which George was the host.

I remember watching this first episode with friends in my dorm room...which featured the now famous "Mighty Mouse" routine by Andy Kaufman. There was a party downstairs in the lounge that night (with, as they say, a target-rich environment)...but a few of us kept sneaking upstairs to watch what was, at the time, a break-through concept in television.

There were a lot of great moments...but I laughed my ass off at a forgotten bit in which the oh-so serious pitchman announced that two blades were passe and that the TRIPLE-blade shaving system was the new level of perfection. "The Triple Track," he said, "because you’ll believe anything."

Which, of course is so true...as, 30 years later, we're at 5.

Ad Tells Teens to "Go Fer It"

JCPenney flirted with being relevant this week when an ad surfaced on YouTube that appeared to condone teen sex.

The retailer is now saying they never approved the ad that has garnered over 100,000 YouTube views and a Cannes award. Whatever. As a commenter on Gawker suggests, "JCPenney ought to be thanking their lucky stars they got a tiny dollop of relevancy.”

At issue is the spot that celebrates the hours of practice it takes to be able to get your clothes back on in under 18 seconds (the time it ostensibly takes from the moment you hear your parents stir until they make it to the basement where you are "just watching TV."

Thanks to Steve Hall at AdRants for the catch.

Chicken Soup for the non-PC Soul

We call the Jail in our town the Public Safety Building. As someone wrote into the Letter to the Editor, if we're gonna be PC, let's go all the way: The Dane County B&B for the Legally Challenged.

I laughed my ass off last week when Matt McDermott of Ad Agency Confessional revealed that the rumor about Cock Flavored Soup was true...and the mix is produced in Jamaica.

I so know a bunch of people that would be way into this product.

Book Now! Before it's Too Late!

While AdRants isn't exactly enthralled by the new TV spot for Ocean City MD, it has some very cool ingredients from the perspective of the often politicized world of Destination Marketing.

First, it features the Mayor...and unlike many politicians that are ill-suited to do tourism spots, Rick Meehan is perfect (and plays along with the "emergency" bit with Shatner-esque urgency).

Second, it breaks the mold of most destination TV ads by being so unlike the genre that the viewer is captured by the retro-silliness of the concept.

And finally, this is already going viral, as it was posted 6 days ago and already has been viewed just under 8,000 times on YouTube...not to mention the views on DMO's website.

More on the story from the Washington Post.

To my friends in OC, well played. And I can't wait to hear how this unusual strategy increases traffic...

And Happy National Tourism Week to You, Too

In what seems like a couple lifetimes ago, I once dated a girl that observed both Hanukkah AND Christmas. Not for religious reasons...but for the obvious bump in presents and the number of celebratory days.

I always thought that was a pretty cool way to look at life...celebrating everybody's holidays. Which, of course, often puts me at odds with School Boards.

National Tourism Week begins today in Canada...and I'm so ready to celebrate again.

Greetings from Upper Crustacia

Forget geo-political boundaries. Rick Meyerowitz  nails the new America with this map (click to enlarge) that accompanies the New York Times' review of "The Big Sort" by Bill Bishop.

My favorites are Dobbs (along the Grande), West and East Hummerland and Nimby and New Nimby in the Northeast. Yours?

But, how will the electoral votes be redistributed?

Thanks to Richard Florida for the catch...

Happy National Tourism Week

The 25th annual National Tourism Week kicks off tomorrow.

I'm not sure who originally cooked up the idea for this celebratory "Tourism-palooza"...but I do know that Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation urging citizens to observe the week with "the appropriate ceremonies and activities."

However, in true Long Tail fashion, I'm pretty sure the ceremonies and activities that I may think are "appropriate" may not be what Ronnie had in mind.

'Cause, I'm kinda thinking that my neighborhood will look like this on the morning of the 18th....